Just heard Joce's testimony

Please pray that God would stir my heart to love Him the way she does. You all seem to have the real thing, a real, vibrant relationship with Christ. I want this. What must I do? Please pray that God would give me a new heart. Also just read Mike's article about amputation versus gospel transformation. I didn't finish all of it but suffice it to say, you all have something I don't have but want. Can God do that in me?

Hi SR, I'm so glad you're here. What wonderful questions you asked. Can God do for you what He did for our dear friend Joce and so many others? Absolutely! What must you do? Go straight to the Cross of Jesus. Go there and see Him hanging there bleeding, broken, bruised, punctured with arms stretched wide for you; bidding you to come. Look into His blood stained and tear filled eyes and see His desperate love for you. [1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.] Then ask the Holy Spirit to bring the power of this astonishing love home to bear in your heart. The more your heart is filled with His love that He lavished all over you from the Cross the more your heart will be broken and transformed by His love and your heart will irresistibly love Him in response,1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. Jesus love for us is so clearly demonstrated by what He suffered and endured for us on the Cross, that we may be free and forgiven and truly loved by He who is love. 1 John 4:8. And His breathtaking love is like a magnet that draws our heart, out of our sins, out of our Self, out of the World into deep love, union, fellowship and intimacy with Him.

John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

If you haven't already my friend I encourage you to spend some time at the Cross, you can so do by checking out this wonderful teaching on the Forum What does it Mean to "See the Cross?"

Hi SR, I'm so glad you're here. What wonderful questions you asked. Can God do for you what He did for our dear friend Joce and so many others? Absolutely! What must you do? Go straight to the Cross of Jesus. Go there and see Him hanging there bleeding, broken, bruised, punctured with arms stretched wide for you; bidding you to come. Look into His blood stained and tear filled eyes and see His desperate love for you. [1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.] Then ask the Holy Spirit to bring the power of this astonishing love home to bear in your heart. The more your heart is filled with His love that He lavished all over you from the Cross the more your heart will be broken and transformed by His love and your heart will irresistibly love Him in response,1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. Jesus love for us is so clearly demonstrated by what He suffered and endured for us on the Cross, that we may be free and forgiven and truly loved by He who is love. 1 John 4:8. And His breathtaking love is like a magnet that draws our heart, out of our sins, out of our Self, out of the World into deep love, union, fellowship and intimacy with Him.

John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

If you haven't already my friend I encourage you to spend some time at the Cross, you can so do by checking out this wonderful teaching on the Forum What does it Mean to "See the Cross?"

Praying with you now

Kelly your response here is a powerful demonstration of the power of the cross, what it can accomplish, and how to experience it. What an amazing, concise, powerful and loving response sister!

Heavenly Father, I lift up @SR-Coker and ask that you would open her ears to hear your good Word for her today! Enable her to feel your love that was so great that you sent your one and only beloved Son Jesus to die for her. Lift up her head so that her eyes might see Your love for her displayed on Calvary. You are the God of resurrection, Father! We believe that you will revive @SR-Coker’s heart today for Your glory and her good.
Today as I pray for @SR-Coker, I look to You, Jesus, to bring Your life to her because you are the Resurrection and the Life. Give her faith to believe in Your finished work on her behalf. @SR-Coker desires a vibrant faith; enable her to delight in You so that she will receive this desire of her heart.
Holy Spirit, stir up @SR-Coker’s heart and mind to remember the gospel so that she might be comforted and encouraged every day by Christ’s death and resurrection. Show her the wounds of Jesus that speak a good and eternal life-giving word for her. Help her to believe and receive the joy of the gospel. Remind her of all the good things that have been given to her in her beloved Savior, Jesus, so that she might be a conduit of your mercy and grace to others for your glory.
I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Dear SR-Coker, I am praying for you that the Holy Spirit would flood you with an all out hunger to cherish the finished work of Jesus Christ above all things and to be overcome with absolute awe at the beauty of Jesus.

To see His wounds that bled the precious blood that cleanses us from every sin. To see Him fulfilling God's law as our substitute so we do not have to ever again listen to self condemning thoughts that we 'do not measure up'. To see Him taking Satan's weapon of accusation out of his hands and reassuring us that we are God's chosen children made perfectly righteous in Christ!

SR-Coker, that testimony was recorded a little while ago since 'putting down' my previous career as a psychologist to minister with joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As you will find too, our focus changes as we delight in the gospel. The Holy Spirit draws us to orbit our lives more and more around the astounding accomplishments of Christ in coming down from heaven to humble Himself at the cross so we can be lifted up in love.

Just the other day, I was delving into some long forgotten cupboards in my home and found some dusty boxes of old psychology textbooks, full of worldly philosophies and theoretical teachings authored by men, many of which are now out of date due to changing worldly trends of 'popular' teaching.

I glanced over to the bible on my desk and gave thanks to God for His word that breathes life into our souls and wondrously assesses, transforms and restores our hearts through the Holy Spirit like no worldly book or teaching ever can. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," 2 Timothy 3:16.

What a joy it was to take a carload of these boxes to the tip! I smiled as the excavator at the tip picked them up and dumped them, thinking of a New Testament verse in Acts 19:19: ....they "brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." It is absolutely nothing compared to incalculable value of the treasure of Jesus!

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:21

Dear SR-Coker, I am praying for you that the Holy Spirit would flood you with an all out hunger to cherish the finished work of Jesus Christ above all things and to be overcome with absolute awe at the beauty of Jesus.

To see His wounds that bled the precious blood that cleanses us from every sin. To see Him fulfilling God's law as our substitute so we do have to ever again listen to self condemning thoughts that we do not measure up. To see Him taking Satan's weapon of accusation out of his hands and reassuring us that we are God's chosen children made perfectly righteous in Christ!

SR-Coker, that testimony was recorded a little while ago since 'putting down' my previous career as a psychologist to minister with joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As you will find too, our focus changes as we delight in the gospel. The Holy Spirit draws us to orbit our lives more and more around the astounding accomplishments of Christ in coming down from heaven to humble Himself at the cross so we can be lifted up in love.

Just the other day, I was delving into some long forgotten cupboards in my home and found some dusty boxes of old psychology textbooks, full of worldly philosophies and theoretical teachings authored by men, many of which are now out of date due to changing worldly trends of 'popular' teaching.

I glanced over to the bible on my desk and gave thanks to God for His word that breathes life into our souls and wondrously assesses, transforms and restores our hearts through the Holy Spirit like no worldly book or teaching ever can. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," 2 Timothy 3:16.

What a joy it was to take a carload of these boxes to the tip! I smiled as the excavator at the tip picked them up and dumped them, thinking of a New Testament verse in Acts 19:19: ....they "brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." It is absolutely nothing compared to incalculable value of the treasure of Jesus!

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:21

I smiled all the way through while reading this Joce! I can see you loading up those worldly wisdom books, the ones that I'm sure you once treasured, and taking them to the dump, smiling all the way. For you have found wisdom in the Person of Jesus Christ and have come to treasure Him more than anything now.

I see you dumping those books, ridding your life of their influence and being grateful for God's Word as you do. And what makes someone want to dump things that cost a lot? Because Jesus dumped His entire life out for us! He loved us so much that He took His body to the "tip" (I think that means "dump" for us) and hung it on a tree for us, then shed all His blood for us.

In response, we say "thank you Lord Jesus" and we trash all that used to mean so much to us.

Thank you for encouraging us all like this Joce, it made my heart swell with thanksgiving to read it!

@Joce-Gordon thank you for your very thoughtful reply and your prayers. Words just can't express my gratitude for all of you. I pray that Jesus's love can become real to me. My emotions are dead. I need a miracle. May God grant me this miracle.